A Light in the Dark
by charlie-duck
Summary: Tayledras Scout has to make difficult choices when a drastic event leaves everyones lives torn apart...RR!
1. Chapter 1

A/N-As per usual, anything you recognize as ML's is, and if you don't recognize it as hers, its probably mine! Please R&R, constructive criticism is nice!  
  
Chapter 1:  
  
Two riders rode down the shadowed path, patterns from the canopy above flickering across their faces. High above the trees, the sun rose higher and higher, a burning yellow ball standing out among the pale white clouds and the sapphire sky. It filtered through the leaves, bringing much of its dry summer heat with it and warming the flowers and mosses below. A bird trilled nearby, filling the still and otherwise silent air with a warbling song. A slight breeze was the only other noise, rustling the leaves above and bringing cool relief to the hot summer air. With each step the riders horses took, dry dust was lifted into the air, small clouds choking the beasts and riders.  
  
One of the riders was a large man, sitting in his horses saddle almost as though he was afraid the stallion would buck him. He was garbed simply, in practical traveling clothes of varying shades of browns, creams, and blacks. Graying brown hair was grown long enough that he tied it back in a small tail, and while he didn't appear to have a beard, he did have several days growth in the form of stubble. Sharp brown eyes flickered from side to side, watching for any sign of human life; his hand rested on his sword hilt and he was constantly fingering the weapon.  
  
The man's companion was female, dressed similarly to him. Long blonde hair was twisted into a thick braid that reached nearly to her waist, and she had the whole affair thrown over her shoulder and resting in her lap. She sat casually in her seat, controlling the gelding's dancing with considerable ease. Blue eyes the same shade as the sky above danced, and seemed to laugh merrily at her companion. She also carried a sword, but she didn't reach for it like her companion did when a passing animal snapped a branch. Along with her sword, she had a quiver full of arrows hanging on her back and she had a strong longbow resting in her hands.  
  
Nightsun k'Saren watched them warily, following their progress from the trees above. They were following the path which would either lead them straight to the Vale or completely around it, but until they reached the fork she wouldn't have any idea which way they were going. Neither spoke, so she couldn't gather information from their conversation, but both of them seemed to wear a casual arrogance like a cloak. A heavy cloak. She imagined that when they walked, they swaggered instead. She was surprised they had made it even this far. The summer heat was enough to make travelers turn around and go home normally, but with drought as an added factor the k'Saren borders had been positively silent as of late.  
  
Nightsun took a few more silent leaps and steps across the branches until she was ahead of the riders. Before they rounded the last bend in the road before the fork, Nightsun leapt down, darted across the road and used her tree-stick to scramble back up into its limbs. This was a tree she had used many times; she had found flipping down from the branches and seemingly appearing from no where frightened travelers the most. The fact that they were faced with a fabled Hawkbrother caused them to turn and flee before she had even finished warning them off. Short moments later, the two riders came to the fork and paused at the branching. Then they spoke.  
  
"Which way, did she say?" The man swung down from his saddle and stood awkwardly in the middle of the road. The woman shrugged and joined him, peering down both roads before speaking.  
  
"Right." A moments consideration. "I think." She had taken her bow with her and she was leaning on it and glancing between the two roads. They mirrored each other, going in their respective directions for a short bit and then turning away from each other. The right fork led to the Vale; the left back to wherever these travelers had come from. The two travelers stood there for a moment, and then glanced at each other, the woman speaking again. "I'm tired of riding; lets walk, and hope we run into an inn soon." The man nodded in agreement, and they both turned their horses towards the Vale path.  
  
Nightsun, with the ease of any child raised in the trees, darted back a few trees, and swung down casually, flexing her knees upon landing but otherwise standing up tall. Not that it would do much-for one only about five feet, five inches, height something she had given up trying to attain. Even so, she probably looked more frightening to a foreigner than she would have though, dressed as she was in the mottled scouts clothes, shoulder length black hair dyed in a mimicking of the forest around her, birds darting between the trunks. She left her long knife sheathed, but held her bow loosely in one hand with the other ready to dart up and snatch an arrow from the quiver hanging on her own back. Altogether, the ensemble would have added several years to her appearance if she wasn't being watched by someone who knew her; to any of her friends or the other scouts, she did look like the 19 year old girl that she was.  
  
The travelers stopped in their tracks, staring at her in shock. Nightsun took a moment to stand there, her silence making her all the more formidable, before speaking. She spoke slowly, so as not to mix up the words that she would be using. These people spoke a language she knew the basics of, but she would loose her edge if she messed up while she was speaking.  
  
"Please leave." She started, breaking the travelers from their shocked paralysis. Using Mindspeech, she called her bondbird, Nita, closer. While the Merlin couldn't do as much damage as a gyrfalcon, she could still sufficiently frighten these unsuspecting travelers. "You are drawing to near to that which I guard; you may continue down the left fork, but not the right." They stared at her for a moment longer, as if trying to wrap their minds around the sight before them.  
  
"A...a Hawkbrother?" The man murmured, rubbing his eyes with one hand. He kept his other hand on his sword, Nightsun noticed. He frowned though, looking angry. "What makes you think we aren't looking for what you are guarding?" Nightsun shook her head.  
  
"I know you aren't; leave now. There are more of us here, and it would be a real shame to have to...dispose of you." Pure bluff, but it had worked for her more times than one in the past. She would have believed it had she not known any better; she knew to them it probably looked like she had simply appeared from the trees, and they couldn't have had any idea how long she had been watching them.  
  
"Maybe we should." The woman said doubtfully, turning her horse around. The man eyed her once more, and she reached over her shoulder, pretending to get an arrow. Quickly, he turned around and they continued down the left fork. Nightsun clambered back up the tree, and looked at the sun. It was almost time for her to head back. As if right on cue, the next to be patrolling the area waved at her from several trees over and then headed back towards the beginning of the circuit. With a small smile, Nightsun headed home. It had been a good day.  
  
A/N-This is really only an introductory chapter and I realise that! No plot points, which is how it is inteded; its more to get a handle on Nightsun than anything...plot will start happening in the next chapter. Should I continue? 


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thanks for reviewing! Very sorry it took me forever to get up, but life has been hell-ish lately and I haven't had much time to touch the computer =( Again, as before (this goes for the rest of the story) everything like the ideas of Hawkbrothers etc... is Mercedes Lackey's, not mine! Only certain characters that you don't recognize as hers are mine- don't sue me! You wouldn't get much anyway! =P  
  
Forgot to mention it last chapter but *these* are thoughts and :these: are mindspeech  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Candle light flickered across the page of the book as Nightsun shifted slightly in her seat, the chair bumping gently into the table. Normally, she would have lamps hanging from the walls, but since she had just moved in she hadn't made it that far quite yet. The candle light worked just as well anyways. Nightsun shifted restlessly again, and then closed the book with a sigh. *What is wrong with me tonight?* She stood up, shoved the book onto a half empty shelf and curled up back in the chair, staring into the fire thoughtfully.  
  
She'd spent the time with some friends after her scouting shift, going back home only because it was getting very late. The first of the two, Fireflight was one of Nightsun's closest friends; as children, they could often be seen darting through the Vale paths, playing 'scout' and getting into more than their share of mischief. Fireflight hadn't changed much since then except for how she looked, and even in that regard she hadn't changed much. She was always up for a practical joke, and her sense of humor made her the center of attention wherever she went. If it wasn't her personality that drew a crowd, her body would have done the job for her. Tall and thin, she sported elaborately dyed waist long hair, large, innocent brown eyes and a full mouth. Her nose was just the right size and slightly hawkish, her complexion clear. But beneath the gorgeous exterior was a woman who could be serious when need be, someone who knew how to get a job done, and how to do it well. Nightsun would have envied her but it was impossible to dislike her because she was simply too nice.  
  
The other, Shadowrain, was Fireflight's older brother by almost a year and a half. Shadowrain was the quieter and more serious of the two, never speaking unless he had to or it was worth saying. While many found his openness, or lack thereof, disturbing, Nightsun adored it. He was always there when you needed a shoulder to cry on, and from the time she had realized that boys weren't an evil race from who-knew-where, Nightsun had always gone to Shadowrain with her problems, concerns, and feelings. All feelings, that was, save one. Like his sister, Shadowrain was good looking, hair dyed a deep brown-black that matched his eyes. His hawk-nose was more pronounced than Fireflight's, and simply the way he walked gave him the air of being dangerous. Nightsun was in love with him and he was blissfully unaware of her feelings.  
  
The candle flickered again, then guttered out, bringing Nightsun out of her thoughts. She had a sense of foreboding, that something was going to happen, and she shoved it off. *I need to stop worrying so much,* She thought as she stood up and stretched. *I don't want to lose sleep about it.* The Vale was quiet, and Nightsun's pessimistic thoughts twisted the calm into something else. *Is it just a calm night, or is this the quiet before the storm?* She stood up and walked over to the window, staring out over the Vale. Her ekele was situated close to the entrance on the side of a hill. She could see over the center of the Vale, the half-power heartstone being the only indication from above that someone lived in this apparently abandoned valley.  
  
A scream suddenly pierced the silence, making Nightsun jump and reach for her knife. *But we're in the Vale! We're supposed to be safe here!* The rational part of her mind shouted as the panicked part began to urge her to defend whoever was being attacked. Shouts drifted up from the ground below and she grabbed her second knife before strapping on a third. Smoke drifted up from below, and she hardly hesitated before flinging open the trap door to get to the ground below.  
  
*This can't be happening! Not unless there are more of them than there are of us!* k'Seren was a small Vale, and it would not be hard to gather enough people to overwhelm the valley. Nightsun darted down the familiar paths towards the entrance and exit to their 'haven' only to find that it was worse than she had expected.  
  
Fireflight was in the center of the path, her crows mobbing whoever was in the entrance. Fireflight had bonded a crow, and then later a whole group of them. Although the crows were great in numbers, men still managed to make it through the storm of beaks and talons to the other side where Fireflight was standing. Another one of the scouts - Sunwind, Nightsun's mind told her - was up in a tree, braced between two branches with a strung bow resting in both hands. Shadowrain came up behind her and grabbed her shoulder, breaking her from her shocked paralysis. Shadowrain's snowy owl, in her element now that it was night, swooped down silently on the unfortunate men who had made it past the crows. With a wordless snarl, Nightsun rushed forward, throwing one her knives before tackling one of the men. Her thrown knife lodged itself in one man's throat while she slammed her fist into her current victim's stomach.  
  
A few seconds of quick work took care of that man, and she rushed forward into the fray, slashing as best she could while avoiding the attacker's swords and daggers. She wasn't careful enough, she realized, when someone scored a hit along her rib, leaving a burning gash behind. The crows backed off as several other Tayledras joined her; they didn't have good enough night vision to assure that they would be hitting the right person. Screams assaulted her ears, adrenaline pumped through her veins, and she used every trick she had been taught. She even used tricks she hadn't learned. But it didn't seem like that it would be enough to save her-it was like there was an army assaulting the Vale! The men and women pouring through the entrance seemed to come from an endless supply, and there weren't enough Tayledras to counter them all. The thought seemed to occur to all the scouts at once; Nightsun caught a glimpse of Fireflight's pale face and nodded grimly. They couldn't lose; to lose meant to die. There was no way out.  
  
All of this occurred to Nightsun within moments, and it was the last thing she recalled as something hard crashed against the back of her skull, sending her into blackness.  
  
A/N: Choppy and not my best, especially the last part, but I need to post it before I forget completely 


End file.
